Nuclear Union - Interview with Igromania

February 28th, 2013, 22:00

The Nuclear Union website is hosting an interview (in English) with two devs and producers on their game that was available in the Russian magazine Igromania.

What happened to the world after the nuclear war? Which states are preserved? How many people are on the planet? Are there any areas that were not affected by the war?
Immediately after the 1962 war, in addition to a part of the USSR and a number of peripheral countries in Western Europe (e.g. Spain), a large area of Asia survived including China, Japan, Iran, and India. Nothing serious happened to Australia, Africa and South America. However the nuclear war was only the first in a series of global catastrophes. Huge masses of people died during the harsh winter of 1962-1963 from cold and hunger.
Further, over the years the Arctic ice was covered with soot from huge fires. The reflectivity of the surface decreased and the ice began to melt. This led to a fast rise of global sea levels and flooding of large areas. Floods, in turn, unevenly increased the pressure on the continental plates that led to a series of abnormally strong earthquakes in 1970.
As a result of these disasters, many parts of Eurasia have disappeared from the face of the Earth. In particular, it destroyed the remains of the public entities in China, Japan and India. The total number of people on Earth is estimated to be 250 million compared to today’s total of almost 7 billion.
In 2013 the official Soviet point of view states that the capitalist countries no longer exist. In reality it is not 100% true. There are small states even in the USA, for example, the Texas Directory. However, due to the almost complete cessation of flights, long range navigation and the destruction of the tropospheric Heaviside layer (which provides long range radio communications) there is no opportunity for regular contact.From a first glance, the game looks a lot like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the Fallout series. Are there similarities?There are no similarities, at least in the most important things. First, usually a state and its basic parts (army, police, scientific institutions) are the main reason for the end of the world in post-apocalyptic games (either actions of its military led to the war or scientists made a doomsday virus on purpose, or something along these lines). Secondly, even if some state institutions remain in the game, they are usually hostile to the main hero (for example, government special forces hunting down Gordon Freeman in Black Mesa).
On the other hand, we’re making a ‘positive anti-utopia’. We show a world that is hostile, that is not funny and that contains numerous dangers. But state ‘stalkers’ (‘special scouts’ in the terminology of the game), scientists, the state government itself – they all are ‘our people’, they are allied to the player in game terms. The same is true for a number of isolated communities that are loyal to the central power.
Sure, players can choose to go and help bandits, for example, and thus inflict harm to the state. Nevertheless, the state as a whole is a good thing in our game. We don’t do this for propaganda purposes (my personal feelings towards the Soviet state of late 1980s are mixed, I can’t describe them as positive), but for creating a fresh, new, original setting.

-- In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Douglas AdamsA lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Winston ChurchillSome cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. Oscar Wilde

Quite honestly, the more I read about this game, the more it is starting to look like nationalistic propaganda…with the interviewers language about the crushing of the 'exploitative' capitalistic countries, Alaska being annexed into Russia, the main protagonist being one of the folks who dropped nuclear bombs on the USA…..Still, it could be an interesting game.

Originally Posted by GuybrushWilco
Quite honestly, the more I read about this game, the more it is starting to look like nationalistic propaganda…with the interviewers language about the crushing of the 'exploitative' capitalistic countries, Alaska being annexed into Russia, the main protagonist being one of the folks who dropped nuclear bombs on the USA…..Still, it could be an interesting game.

Well it is nationalistic propaganda. Just look at the fallout games for another example. Hell play the many American made fps games were the US is always the good guy.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well it is nationalistic propaganda. Just look at the fallout games for another example. Hell play the many American made fps games were the US is always the good guy.

Even so it still looks interesting.

The Fallout series is hardly nationalistic propaganda…..it takes place in the US, but the story and themes are not pro-US government, and in fact, the quasi-remnants of the former government are the villains in Fallout 2 and 3.

Originally Posted by GuybrushWilco
The Fallout series is hardly nationalistic propaganda…..it takes place in the US, but the story and themes are not pro-US government, and in fact, the quasi-remnants of the former government are the villains in Fallout 2 and 3.

It's all semantics there was plenty of propaganda it just wasn't the focus of the games. Regardless this is nothing new. There Russian developers so of course there biased. I agreed with you.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
It's all semantics there was plenty of propaganda it just wasn't the focus of the games. Regardless this is nothing new. There Russian developers so of course there biased. I agreed with you.

Actually, it may just be the period that the game is set in, in its alternate history It may not be as I had stated before, but we will wait for the final release, and see .